


Method Acting

by Miniatures



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Ficlet, Gen, One-Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-16
Updated: 2014-04-16
Packaged: 2018-01-19 14:30:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1473211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miniatures/pseuds/Miniatures
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Walsh is a pretty good actor, but love isn't as easy to fake as he thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Method Acting

Get in, get the girl, get her to believe you. That was always the plan. And Walsh was a good actor, a good showman. Performing love was no more complicated than performing power—simpler, even. Displays of vulnerability, nerves, and natural quirks were faux pas when playing the tyrannical Wizard of Oz, key notes to hit when playing a man in love. He could slip up, trip over his words, make a bad joke if he wanted, and the Saviour Who Knew Naught would still cock a brow and smirk as if charmed.

He was playing a part, of course. The Walsh Emma knew was confident, considerate, great with kids. Barely reminiscent of the self-serving coward who’d spent the better part of the last fifty years prancing about in a literal monkey suit. He liked Emma’s Walsh. He liked Emma. With her, the performance was effortless. It was almost as if he wasn’t pretending at all.

When he returned to Storybrooke, Zelena mocked him for the sincerity in his eyes, the break in his voice when he told Emma he loved her. He puffed his furry chest and bared his fangs in a proud grin. _I’m better than you thought, huh?_ She sniffed and let it drop, too preoccupied with her plans to continue teasing him. Walsh deflated the second her back was turned. He _was_ better than she thought. But not for the reasons he’d have her believe.

The moment she brought him up to the roof he knew. He knew she’d taken the potion, knew she was about to let him go. He thought back to their first few dates, how she’d let her hand linger on his arm a little longer each time she touched him. Their first kiss, a chaste, hesitant peck that became a deep and lingering embrace—fingers tangled in each other’s hair, mouths hungry. Her dry jokes, her brash attitude, the fierce love she had for Henry. Henry, the little devil—Walsh realized, with more than a little surprise, that he would miss the kid. He thought of how she smiled, how she laughed, how peaceful she looked when she slept beside him.

He thought of how badly he wanted to stay with her.

But when the time came to reveal his true colours, he followed his orders. He affected a nasty drawl, drew out the tension, put on a good show. He made sure to hold back in his attack—though judging by her show of strength she would’ve been able to fight him off even if he had wanted to kill her.

He knew he left her hating him, knew he left her angry, but he’d never imagined he left her hurting. So when Zelena’s spies let slip that Emma claimed her heart was broken, he couldn’t quite believe his ears. The Wicked Witch cackled, asked him:

“Is she really that foolish, or are you that good an actor?”

He looked away. Not _that_ good. Emma wasn’t stupid. She would’ve been able to tell he was lying. Performing love was simple enough, but performance alone could only take him so far.

Get in, get the girl, get her to believe you. It was a good plan, and by all accounts Walsh had succeeded. But he he’d never imagined he would end up believing him too.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why this pairing interests me… but by god it does.


End file.
